Truth Within Lies
by ghlovebooks
Summary: The capture of Murtagh is a major step forward for The Varden. However, things are not as they seem and more is at stake than what The Varden would like to believe.  Who is Murtagh really? Where does his allegiance lie? And what is up with him and Arya?
1. Chapter 1

Murtagh/Arya…thoughts

Arya stalked across the room, seething with anger and frustration.

"How can you sit there so nonchalantly? You, you are a traitor! The worst of them! How can you have done those things? How can you be," she paused gesturing at him, "this?"

"You think I wanted this?" he hissed, "You think I wanted to be kidnapped and tortured? You truly think I wanted to kill innocent people and do the bidding of a man I hate?"

Rage was rolling off him in waves as he spat out "How dare you? You have no idea as to what the truth is and you have no idea what I've been through. How dare you?" He stopped abruptly, realizing he had lost his temper, which rarely happened. _Why now? _He thought to himself. _What has changed from the time I was in Galbatorix's castle to now? What has Arya done to me?_

Arya stood there, watching Murtagh. His uncharacteristic outburst took her so by surprise that her thoughts had momentarily abandoned her. She studied him from across the room. All trace of emotion had left his face and in its place was a still and calm look, shielding his thoughts. The two stood there in awkward silence, waiting for the other to speak.

Murtagh stood rooted to the spot, the sudden opportunity to share his burden shocking him into silence. . In his experiences, sharing emotions was looked down upon and a sign of weakness. Unwilling to embarrass himself further, he waited for Arya to leave. Besides, he didn't need to explain the circumstances of his situation to Arya and the Varden. They had already tried and convicted him in their minds. No matter what he said, he would be considered forever guilty in the eyes of the Varden. Arya looked from the floor to Murtagh.

"What do you mean by this Murtagh?" she said quietly, almost a whisper. "What are you talking about? You were tortured? By whom? Why?"

"Who do you think, Arya?" he replied in a tired voice. This argument, combined with the flowing emotions and his already present battle wounds, were exhausting him.

"Galbatorix did this to you?"

"Yes."

"Why couldn't you- no- why didn't you leave?" She asked, her voice once more taking on a cold edge.

Murtagh turned away from her and leaned his hand against the wall.

"Just leave me, Arya. I would leave myself, but the circumstances don't permit it, so just, please, leave."

"No Murtagh!" She said as she strode over to him and spun him around to face her. When she spoke it was angry and deliberate.

"Why didn't you leave, Murtagh? Speak up! Now!"

Murtagh carefully lifted her hand off of his shoulder and let it fall back to her side before saying,

"I don't want to talk about it Arya."

"You don't want to talk about it? Excuse me? You're in no position to be deciding what you do and don't want to talk about!. So, why don't you just tell me the truth? Tell me the truth and I'll leave."

Murtagh looked at her, and for some reason, felt compelled to tell her. God knows how many times he'd been tortured and hadn't said anything and now here he was, alone in a room for ten minutes with her and was basically spilling his guts to her. _Something is seriously wrong with me._ He thought to himself.

"You'll leave if I tell you why I didn't leave Galbatorix?" Arya swallowed, paused, and finally nodded assent.

"And if I don't?"

"I'm not leaving until you tell me why."

"Well then I guess you'd better get comfortable because I'm done talking, and I guess that means you'll be here a while."

"MURTAGH!"


	2. Chapter 2

The story continues… in Chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I don't own The Inheritance Trilogy or any characters associated with it

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><p>Arya stormed into Eragon's chambers.<p>

"Eragon! We need to speak!"

Eragon appeared from a side doorway, hastily pulling on a shirt, his hair wet.

"Aw, what is it Arya? I was just finishing up my shower-" His voice trailed off as he caught glimpse of the angry expression on her face. Arya began pacing around Eragon's room. Eragon, slightly cautious ventured a comment.

"Ar-" He faltered as she paused her pacing to glare at him.

_Ok_, he thought, _Man up Eragon! You can do this. . .Just ask her what's wrong. She won't kill you…_

Pep talk complete, he gave the conversation thing another try.

"Arya. What's wrong? You're pacing so fast you're almost running. And you're in my room…which never happens, so… it must be bad." She shot him another look, but slumped gracefully into a chair nonetheless and looked at him.

"I just spoke with Murtagh."

"Oh?"Eragon said cautiously, unsure of where this was going. He went to walk over to her, but all of a sudden she popped up out of the chair and resumed her furious pacing.

"I went there to question him again! And he, he, didn't answer my questions like I wanted…" she kept rambling on but Eragon was too shocked by her sudden outburst to say anything.

"…and did you know he was tortured?" Eragon snapped back to the present.

_Shit!_ He thought,_ how does she know about that?_

"…and, AND, he didn't answer my last question, at all!"

"Well, Arya, he can be quite stubborn sometimes…how exactly did you two get around to talking about the whole torture thing?" She stopped her pacing and looked at him.

"He-" she paused and restarted."I guess you could say that he had an…an emotional outburst." She finished slowly. Eragon laughed.

"Murtagh? Emotional? Quit lying to me Arya, what really happened?"

"I told you! He had an emotional outburst."

"Hm…kind of like the one you had like 10 seconds ago?"

Arya turned and slowly walked towards Eragon, fixing him with her icy glare.

"That was not an emotional outburst. I do not have outbursts. My emotions are perfectly controlled."

Eragon looked at her and nodded, saying "Hm mm, right."

Arya turned and threw the lamp from his table at him. It missed Eragon's head by inches and she hised

"Don't. Patronize. Me. Eragon."

"I wasn't! Honestly." He said as he threw his hands up in mock surrender, "I was simply agreeing with you about the fact that your emotions are controlled…Now can we get back to the situation at hand? Like, the whole thing with Murtagh and emotions and torture? What exactly did he say to you?" Arya sat down on the edge of the bed and Eragon bit his lip, feeling his thoughts drift back to a dream he had the night before involving Arya and his bed and –

"Eragon!"

"What?"

"Did you hear what I was saying? Don't answer, I know you didn't, anyways, I was saying that Murtagh said that Galbatorix tortured him and then I asked him why he didn't leave and-"

"And he didn't say anything right!"

"What?" Arya shot him a puzzled glare before continuing "No, he didn't say anything, which is why I came to talk to you. He made me so…angry."

"It's okay, you'll get used to it, he brings out the worst in everyone." Eragon said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.

"I don't know, with what just happened, I'm not sure that I'm seeing the full picture of what's going on here. I feel like I'm missing something. Why didn't any of our scouts report that Murtagh was being tortured? And why didn't he leave then? You know, rebel? Something doesn't add up."

"Well, you know, don't worry about it; we've got it all under control."

"Who's we?"

"Oh…you know, me and, uh,…, me and Saphira…"

Arya raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh you know what I just realized? I have a meeting with Nasuada that I completely forgot about! Damn, I'll have to talk to you later!"

With that, Eragon slipped out the main door of his chambers, and left Arya there alone, fuming.

**********************  
>Murtagh's Prison Chambers<p>

Murtagh was lying on his back on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He was trying hard not to focus on the growing pain and pressure in his head. It felt as though a battering ram was attacking his mental fortresses. _One brick on top of another_, he thought_, build the wall, a nice, thick, brick wall. One brick on top of another…_

He was going to go crazy, lying around in this prison cell all day and night. He needed to talk to Thorn, badly.

_He hated to admit it, but he felt lonely, lost without Thorn, and it was driving him nuts. Don't think about him, _he thought_, don't think about your one and only friend left in this world that you are being kept from….think about, think about…Arya. Arya? Arya…._

_He was starting to see why Eragon was attracted to her. She was hot when she got upset. _

"Wait a second!" he said as he shot up into a sitting position, "I did not just think that. No. Didn't happen."

He had just laid back down when his prison door slammed open. Murtagh sat up, surprised.

"Eragon?"

Eragon quickly walked in and shut the door.

"Murtagh. We need to talk."

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><p>Ah yes, so this chapter has lots of dialogue, I know….I will be stepping up the action soon, and the drama will just continue its steep climb to melodrama! Just kidding…<p>

Thanks for reading!

Comments are wonderful: good, bad, advice, improvements, just let me know!


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own the Inheritance series etc. etc.

Three days prior...

Nasuada paced the throne room, where the council, Eragon, and Arya sat waiting to hear her plan.

"Murtagh has been spotted with Thorn along the Eastern Ridge of the forest." She started, voice ringing throughout the room. "They are alone, and we will capture them. Eragon and Saphira will create a distraction and separate them while a hidden team of guards will take either Thorn or Murtagh hostage, whichever one proves more manageable at that moment. Then that prisoner will be used to take the other one captive. Understood?"

A smattering of nods went through the assembled people.

"Good. You leave now."

Gods, she sounded so much more confident than she was. _Oh, let's just go out and take a ride about the Eastern Ridge and while we're at it, we'll just capture the second most sought after villain in this war, who just so happens to be stronger than our dragon rider and a bit better trained and arguably better looking...but don't worry! We'll take him down with sheer determination! _

"Nasuada."

Eragon's voice startled her out of her thoughts and she turned towards him.

"Yes Eragon?" She said slowly. "Is there a reason you're still here and not on Saphira flying off to capture a certain violent enemy?"

"Just relax, Nasuada. Everything will work out fine." He strolled towards the entrance and tossed back over his shoulder, "And just so you know, I don't think Murtagh's the better looking one out of the two of us."

Murtagh stood at the edge of the forest, a ways away from Thorn.

"Do you think this is far enough? Think I'm easy enough to spot?" he thought to his Dragon.

"Yes. They should have quite a clear shot of you, and there is enough distance between us that the plan should work out without them suspecting."

"Good. This had better work."

Eragon shifted on Saphira, anxious about what he was about to do.

"You think this'll work right? I mean, people won't be too suspicious?"

"Stop worrying, little one, it will be fine. We are the ones doing it, you know. Everything will play out as it is supposed to. All in good time."

Eragon looked down as the troop that was to capture Murtagh got in place. He could see Murtagh up ahead and spotted Thorn a few yards to his left. So far, so good. He nudged Saphira with his knee, and she roared, catching Thorn's attention. The red dragon looked up, wary, before returning the howl and leaping into the air. Eragon could see Murtagh's surprised face as he ripped Zar'roc out of its sheath. The band of soldiers burst from the trees and Murtagh turned on them whipping Zar'roc through the air, shouting words of magic at the same time. He clearly was fine taking on an entire band of warriors. Up in the air, however, it was a different story. Saphira had managed to get a hold on Thorn, who let out a fierce cry of frustration and pain as she landed to the ground. Eragon slid off of Saphira and called out to Murtagh.

"Lay down your weapon Murtagh, or Saphira will hurt Thorn more." Murtagh turned to look at Eragon and upon seeing Thorn's predicament, didn't even hesitate as he laid Zar'roc on the ground.

He would not let his dragon be hurt. Ever.

The soldiers behind him quickly removed Zar'roc from his reach and secured his arms behind him. One stepped up behind Murtagh's back and placed a sharpened blade upon his neck, while grasping one of Murtagh's bound arms at the same time. He led, rather pushed, Murtagh over to where Thorn could see him and nodded at Eragon.

"You may release Thorn, Saphira. He won't do anything to endanger his rider."

Saphira reluctantly released her hold on Thorn and he climbed to his feet growling. The soldier holding Murtagh pressed the blade tighter on Murtagh's neck and called out "Don't even think about it, Dragon!"

The entire way back to the Varden the knife remained at Murtagh's neck, and while Thorn did not attempt to break him free, the low growling did not stop once.


End file.
